Report to National Crime Agency of £5m Farage gift is ‘deeply serious’

Nigel Farage said he had ‘no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money’. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Nigel Farage said he had ‘no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money’. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian Report to National Crime Agency of £5m Farage gift is ‘deeply serious’ Labour party chair says Reform UK leader must cooperate with authorities instead of trying to distract public with byelection UK politics live – latest updates The revelation that a £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers concerned it may have been laundered money, has been described as “astonishing and deeply serious”. Responding to the Guardian story, Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party, also called on Farage to “come clean and cooperate” with the NCA. The fresh pressure on the Reform UK leader came the day after he attempted to shrug off the pressure over his financial affairs by resigning his seat in Clacton-on-Sea , to stand in the resulting byelection. All of the other main parties have said they will boycott the contest . Why Farage is quitting as an MP amid scrutiny over gifts – but will stand again Read more However, Farage faces fresh questions about the gift in relation to the NCA, which comes after Guardian first revealed in April that Farage had been given £5m by the Thailand-based Reform donor Christopher Harborne. Turley said: “This is an astonishing and deeply serious allegation. The circumstances surrounding Nigel Farage’s secret £5 million ‘gift’ absolutely stink. “Farage is engulfed in a major sleaze scandal and his attempts to distract won’t wash with the public. He’s desperately flailing and can’t get his story straight, and working people will conclude he’s just in it for himself. “The Reform leader must finally come clean. He should publicly commit to cooperating with the National Crime Agency, fess up to the parliamentary watchdog over his finances, and face the consequences.” Farage had been given a deadline of 1pm on Tuesday to respond to the Guardian before it reported that bankers had contacted the NCA about the gift. He gave a video address at 2pm announcing he would force a byelection in Clacton. 1:07 Farage resigns to force ‘people versus establishment’ byelection in Clacton – video The Guardian understands bankers raised a suspicious activity report (SAR) over the gift from Harborne on 16 May 2024 with the NCA. A SAR is not proof of wrongdoing, rather it is an invitation for the agency to examine the transaction to decide whether there are grounds to investigate it further. It is not the same as a crime report. In correspondence with the Guardian, Harborne’s lawyers have claimed Farage received the money on 5 April 2024. They did not provide a substantive response to detailed questions about the gift and a SAR to the NCA. In one of the letters sent to the Guardian, Farage said he did not know about the SAR. He added: